The instant invention relates to packaging materials and more particularly to an inflatable packaging pouch for packaging fragile articles, such as printed circuit boards.
Heretofore circuit boards have normally been packaged in cardboard containers filled with styrofoam packaging "peanuts" or "bubble" wrap to protect the printed circuit boards from physical impacts. It has been found that this type of packaging material is extremely wasteful and that the plastic and styrofoam materials used therein are also extremely harmful to the environment when disposed of in landfills. Because of the problems associated with the disposal of non-reusable packaging materials, such as styrofoam "peanuts" and plastic "bubble" wrap, regulations restricting the use of such packaging materials have recently been proposed. These pending regulations would require future packaging materials to be reusable a specified number of times, i.e. reusable five or six times before they can be discarded. Accordingly, these pending regulations have created a need for an inexpensive, but reusable packaging material for packaging fragile materials.
Inflatable packaging materials have heretofore been known in the art. In this regard, the U.S. Pat. No. to Kerr 4,551,379 represents the closest prior art to the subject invention of which the applicant is aware. The patent to Kerr discloses an inflatable packaging material formed from a pair of juxtaposed sheets of plastic, such as nylon or polyethylene. The sheets are welded together to form a packaging material having a plurality of continuous passages therein which extend between opposite edges thereof. The passages may be permanently sealed during manufacture or may include a manifold assembly for selectively inflating and deflating the material.